The Grocer – 10 August 2019

Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk 10 August 2019 | The Grocer | 23

Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk

3 August 2019 | The Grocer |^23

higgins

Lois Vallely

W

hat can a potato tell us about the future of

This is the question the latest food?

Secret History of the Future Podcast from The Economist’s

Tom Standage and Slate’s Seth Stevenson (24 July) looked to

answer.There are lots of advantages

to getting rid of meat , the pair argued. There are also lots of

potential replacements , such as insects, lab meats and plant-

based alternatives. But getting the population to switch to

them is another matter entirely.So what’s this got to do with

a potato? Famines were common in

Europe throughout the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. The

staple food for Europe for thousands of years had been

cereal grains, especially wheat, oats and barley. O† en the

harvest would fail, leading to disaster. Even in good times

they weren’t very e‡ cient in terms of yield versus calories.

to feed millions of people. The potato had the potential

Spanish explorers were the ‰ rst Europeans to encounter it

in South America in the 1530s when they were conquering the

Inca Empire. From Spain, they spread to the rest of Europe.

of the potato. It became At ‰ rst people were wary

associated with witchcra† and the devil, as it is botanically

part of the deadly nightshade family.

realised it was wonderful and However, a† er a while people

delicious, and it caught on. Now it’s di‡ cult to imagine life

without potatoes.The podcast concluded this

was good news for the future of meat alternatives. Fascinating

stu” – all crammed into just 37 minutes! Well worth a listen.

Aspartame use must stop CRITICAL EYE

second opinion

Joanna Blythman is a journalist and author of Swallow This

T

he use of aspartame should be suspended

scientists have warned it can right away. Since 1974,

cause brain damage, liver and lung cancer, brain lesions and

neuroendocrine disorders, but recklessly we’ve been reassured

it is safe. Worse, we’ve been actively encouraged to consume

the stu instead of sugar.But the chemical food lobby

can only suppress unsavoury facts for so long. Better late

than never, a painstaking, thor-oughly alarming new study by

University of Sussex research-ers has just revealed that aspar-

tame’s safety was never truly established because the EFSA

panel that authorised its use just happened to discount the results

of no fewer than 73 sound studies indicating it could be harmful.

Justifiably, the researchers

are calling for aspartame’s use to be suspended. They want to

see a radical overhaul of EU food safety procedure, including an

end to the behind-closed-door discussions that enabled this

appalling cover-up of risk. What a familiar food engineering tale:

novel ingredients thrust into the food chain by the chemical

industry and its lobbyists, while independent science is ignored.

for those calling for a UK sugar So here’s a di‡ cult question

tax. For too long these well-intentioned but blinkered cam-

paigners have been silent on the awkward fact that if you tax

sugar, sales of artiŠ cially sweet-ened products – with aspartame

being the most common sweet-ener – will directly beneŠ t.

supported a sugar tax. By reduc-For this reason I have never

ing sugar we can quite quickly retrain our brains and palates

to want less. Synthetic sweeten-ers, on the other hand, aid and

abet surreally sweet cravings and wreak havoc with the hormones

that regulate our appetites and signal satiety to our bodies.

groups in the UK treat the popu-Too many health campaign

lation like simpletons who can only be given the crudest diet

messages. They frame their mes-sages within the ultra-processed,

industrial food box, and appease the chemical food lobby.

reduce their consumption of So tell people to decisively

sugary products, avoid artiŠ cial sweeteners like the plague, and

make water their default drink. How hard is that to spit out?

“By reducing sugar

we can retrain our brains and palates

to want less”

Joanna Blythman

Sir, Your columnist’s
backhanded opposition to the
soft drinks industry levy is to
be welcomed (3 August, p23),
but her denunciation of the use
of sweeteners in food and drink
illustrates a fervent belief that
flies in the face of facts and
international evidence.
Low-calorie sweeteners are
safe and have been approved
by all leading health authorities
around the world for decades,
as well as Cancer Research UK
and Diabetes UK.
The “alarming new study”
cited by your columnist is
in fact a regurgitation of its
author’s prior convictions

regarding aspartame, and

the processes followed by

the European Food Safety

Authority, with the familiar

trope of industry and lobbyists

mixed in for good measure.

It’s astonishing, isn’t it, that

all leading health authorities

reached the same conclusion

about aspartame’s safety.

The use of low-

cal sweeteners is

proven to be safe

The safety of aspartame

● Sir, The International
Sweeteners Association (ISA)
would like to respond to the
article by Joanna Blythman
about aspartame (‘Aspartame
use must stop’, 3 August, p23).
As with all food additives,
before a low-calorie sweetener
is approved for use on the mar-
ket, the regulatory authorities
assess all kinds of scientific
studies to establish safety.
The European Food Safety
Authority’s scientific opinion on
aspartame (2013), which recon-
firmed that aspartame is safe,
represents one of the most com-
prehensive assessments of a
food additive ever undertaken.
It is critical the public is pro-
vided with reliable science-
based information regarding
the safety and utility of low-cal-
orie sweeteners.
Robert Peterson, chairman,
International Sweeteners
Association (ISA)

The Greggs revival

● Sir, In 2012, Greggs was on
a downturn. If you’d have told
shareholders at the time that by
2019 profits would be up 50%,
they’d have balked.

Indeed there are echoes

of the MMR scandal in this

approach to sweeteners. A

relatively small but committed

band of believers project a

conspiracy and reject the

evidence-based consensus

of governments and health

authorities across the globe.

In the process they seek

to discredit the real and

important efforts industry is

making to help reduce sugar

intake levels (down over

30% from soft drinks since

2015 [Kantar]) as part of our

commitment to tackle obesity.

A substantial body of global

research shows how low-

calorie sweeteners can safely

help people reduce calorie

intake and manage weight.

Gavin Partington, director

general, British Soft Drinks

Association

your tweets

Fmcg should stop using vague

environmental terms like

‘biodegradable’

We have been calling for this

for some time – the term bio-

degradable should not be

used in relation to packaging

@UK_ FPA

Meat processors urge unity

amid ‘sniping’ in beef sup-

ply chain

Falling beef prices are

prompting a much needed

debate within meat, livestock

and food supply chain. If we

can capitalise on this dia-

logue and come together to

find solutions then it will not

be in vain.

@BMPA_ INFO

Amazon to turn off all Dash

buttons this month

But hang on! I need to order

more Ariel

@MattCWrites

This turnaround goes deeper

than the vegan sausage roll – its

brand identity and tone of voice

are what really sets it apart.

Far from being a grubby

secret, it’s now the proud face of

much-deserved comfort eating.

It’s the fast food king of

memes, from its own channel

to user-generated content. The

joke is no longer on Greggs, and

it is very much having the last

laugh.

Yelena Gaufman, strategy

partner, Fold7

Modernising cider brands

● Sir, Strongbow was the only

cider brand to feature in the

top 10 of The Grocer’s Britain’s

Biggest Alcohol Brands this

year. A recent report also

revealed the cider shopper is

older than the UK average, with

71% of shoppers aged over 45.

It’s fair to say cider does not

have the cool factor. The cate-

gory also relies too much on tra-

ditional marketing, and brands

should look to spirits for inspi-

ration. For instance, last year

Malibu deployed 300,000 NFC-

enabled connected bottles that

offered consumers the means

to access exclusive experiences

through their smartphones.

Engaging with a new genera-

tion of cider drinkers through

tech innovation is one way to

address tired preconceptions.

Cameron Worth, CEO and

founder, SharpEnd

Plant-based is far more

than a fad – Nescafé’s

dairy-free lattes prove it

There used to be a certain

shame in ordering a coconut

latte. It meant you were one

of ‘those people’. Essentially,

the kind of person who

would order an extra

skinny, extra hot, extra

wet latte – make it decaf

while you’re at it – while

oblivious to the queue of

fuming people behind them.

Thanks to the vegan boom,

it’s now become about as

mainstream as a black

Americano.

Emma Weinbren, 7 August

How can Tesco maintain

the customer experience

with 4,500 job cuts?

The element of Tesco’s

rationale that is hard to

swallow is that the cuts will

help it “serve customers

better”. How could such a

dramatic headcount change,

which at a rough calculation

could leave around 25

members of staff per store,

possibly improve the lot of

the customer?

Ronan Hegarty, 6 August

It’s time the FSA heeded

calls for tighter ‘free from’

labelling

The food industry has

made great strides around

allergen labelling over the

past few months. ‘Natasha’s

Law’, set to come into force

by 2021, will require all food

businesses to clearly label

the full ingredients of pre-

packaged food. Despite this,

loopholes and grey areas

remain. ‘Dairy-free’ is a

notoriously woolly segment,

with a complete lack of

meaningful regulation

on what can and can’t be

described as such.

Kevin White, 5 August

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SWEETENER SCIENCE
It is critical the public is provided with reliable
information on the safety of low-calorie sweeteners –
Robert Peterson, International Sweeteners Association